A Gold Mnaieion of Ptolemaic Cyprus at Tel Kedesh: Background and Context

Abstract

A gold coin from Ptolemaic Cyprus, dated 191/0 BCE, was found during excavation of a
Seleucid administrative building at Tel Kedesh. A review of pertinent hoards suggests that
money did not flow from Cyprus to Coele Syria and Phoenicia in the first decades of the
second century BCE. Most likely this high-value coin reached Kedesh through some contact
between the Ptolemaic and Seleucid elites.